


Red Hot Happiness

by The_Golden_Trashcan_TM



Category: Dimension 20, Fantasy High
Genre: spoilers for sophomore year if you haven't seen it, the good place AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:55:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23537212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Golden_Trashcan_TM/pseuds/The_Golden_Trashcan_TM
Summary: Ayda talks with her incarnations about her life and theirs.
Relationships: fig and ayda
Kudos: 21





	Red Hot Happiness

Ayda didn’t understand how it was possible for all of her past lives to be here. Because they were her as much as she was them, however different they grew to be. They were all the same Ayda Aguefort—but somehow, they were here.

When Ayda first arrived in the Good Place, there had been little more shocking than seeing herself sitting on one of the couches of the common area. She didn’t look exactly like her what with her having a beak and no wings. But there was still the same strong resemblance to Arthur in her strong jaw and steely black eyes that she saw when looking in the mirror.

This version of her looked up from her novel and smiled, launching herself at Ayda in a hug. She was stiff in the woman’s arms, not knowing what to do or say.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” The other Ayda pulled away with her apology, hands still resting on Ayda’s shoulders. “You probably think I’m weird.”

“No. I think you are very forward.”

She laughed. “You wouldn’t be the first to say that. I’m Ayda Aguefort, but I’m sure you knew that.” She gave a small curtsey. “You can call me Nix though. I’m the one right before you.”

“Did you change your name to Nix?”

“Oh, no. It’s just a nickname Rawlins gave me since we’re half phoenix. It ended up taking so it’s what I go by now. Convenient for us, huh.”

“Quite. May we sit and continue talking?”

“Oh, of course. You can come to my room and we can chat about everything I’ve missed.” Together they walked through a door, just a random door it seemed, and walked into what looked like her room at the Compass Points Library. It was messier than she had left it—books were in haphazard piles around the room, pictures lined the walls but placed with no rhyme or reason. It was bright and airy and made Ayda realized she missed it more than realized. She sat at the desk, looking at the knickknacks that littered the surface.

Nix bounced onto the bed and crossed her legs, leaning forward. “So. How do you wanna do this? I ask all my questions and then you ask all yours? We ask one back and forth?”

“I would like to ask one and then you ask so it remains equal.”

“Sounds good. Since you already ask one—my name, yeah?—I’ll go first. How’s Garthy doing?”

“They’re doing fine. When I last spoke to them, business was booming and they were quite happy with their life.”

“Really?” The smile on her face was one of contentment Ayda had seen so few times, she almost couldn’t place it. “That’s wonderful to hear. I always worried they’d get themself in trouble one of these days. Though I’m sure they already have!” Nix laughed. “Your turn.”

“Did you add the expansion of the Friendship section in Compass Points?”

“I did! There were so many pirates that would come looking for ways to cheer up their friends, but they didn’t know where to start. I would give them as much advice as I could, but I can only do so much on my own. It was fun to put together and something I worked on the most.”

Ayda smiled, remembering the rough and tumble pirates that would come in looking for a way to help their friends.

For hours, they say in Nix’s room just talking. Talking about Nix’s life and Ayda’s life and the similarities between. They talked about the Good Place and how it came to be and how ‘the six kids who changed the system are all still around if you want to ask them anything’.

It was a long time before Ayda took a breath and said, “Do you know about the iteration of us that burned the journals?”

Nix’s smile dipped for a moment and she tilted her head to the side, hair falling off her shoulder. “Yeah, I know her. She goes by Red. It took a long time and a lot of talks for me to forgive her for what she did and honestly it still hurts sometimes when I think about it. There’s this whole section of our life that we just don’t know about. I didn’t realize how old we were until I died.”

“Yes, I am very angry with her. She made a decision that the rest of us weren’t there to decide. Because of her, I didn’t understand why Arthur was never around. Why he was so powerful and so affluent and yet he never even looked at me. How could I forgive her for that?”

Nix shrugged. “I just know I found a way to forgive her. Maybe you can too, but I… I was never that angry in life. I accepted that Arthur either didn’t want me or didn’t care and I found happiness without him. I found happiness in the Compass Points and in raising Garthy. I know you’re young and you wanted him to be there, but now you have the benefit of knowing why he wasn’t there.”

“It was Red’s fault that he wasn’t there. She didn’t even write down why he wouldn’t come around.”

“I know, sweetheart. Maybe if you talk to her, you’ll know.”

“Perhaps. But I will talk to her on my own time.”

\---

Ayda had traveled around the Good Place in search of the six who had changed the after-life system. She questioned them as much as they would allow. At first, she found their rowdiness a little bothersome—they were all doing so much it was hard for her to keep up. But upon spending more time with them, and learning more about them individually, she grew to really like them.

Adaine was the first to call her a friend. The first of her many transitive friends to do so. She was kind and powerful—a wonderful person to be her first friend her age. It didn’t take long for the rest of the “Bad Kids”, as they called themselves, to reaffirm her feeling of friendship. She enjoyed their company dearly and enjoyed their advice just as much.

Gorgug was sitting in the common area when Ayda asked for his. “Are you busy? I require your advice.”

He sat up, folding one leg beneath him. “No, I was just sitting here. What’s up?”

“How did you forgive Aelwen for what she did to your girlfriend Zelda?”

His relaxed demeanor shifted, and Ayda could barely tell he was more alert than before. “Oh, uh, well, I tried to put myself in her position. Imagine what it would be like if had grown up the way she had. I know from the fights that we had and from talking to Adaine, and eventually Aelwen, what it was like to grow up the way she did. It was hard and she made some bad decisions. It was easier to forgive her once I understood her.”

“I see.” Ayda sat quietly for a moment. “What if… What if I’m still angry with her after I understand her?”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to forgive someone just because they apologize or you understand them. They hurt you and how you feel about them is valid. It’s up to you whether you forgive them or not.”

“Thank you, Gorgug. It means more than I can articulate that you would give me advice on such a subject. I will see you at the show tonight.”

“It’s no problem. And Fig saved you a seat in the front.”

Ayda’s flame glowed just a little brighter upon hearing Fig’s name as she set off to find Red.

She hesitated for a moment, then knocked on the door. She waited, thinking once again about how odd it was that any door would lead her to where she wanted to be. The door she was at was just a door from the common area, yet it would take her to where she wanted to go. It was the one of the things she would always have to remind herself—

A soft, “Come in!” made her stomach lurch as her thoughts were interrupted. She took a steadying breath, glanced back at Gorgug who gave her a big smile and thumbs up, then opened the door.

Red’s room was, like Nix and herself, was of the Compass Points room they’d all once inhabited. Red wasn’t disorganized like Nix, but it wasn’t as neatly organized as Ayda’s. The walls, unlike the bright white of Nix’s room or the pale blue of her own, Red’s was a harsh mash up of red and yellow stripes that hurt to look at.

Red was sitting on her desk chair, one leg up, her chin resting on her knee, twirling a pen between her fingers. When she swiveled in her chair, Ayda was taken aback by just how much this iteration looked like her. The same talons and wings and flaming feathers by her ears. The biggest difference were Red’s bright orange eyes.

“Oh!” She smiled. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before. I’m Red.”

“I know.” Ayda stood by the door, shifting her weight as she took in her doppelganger. “I’m Ayda. The most recent incarnation. I’m still angry with you, but I want to understand why you chose to meddle in the lives of those after you.”

“Oh, uh, well, I…” She trailed off, clearly unsure of what to say next.

“Because you burned up our notes and left the rest of us clueless about our own lives. We didn’t even know our father because you didn’t deem it fit to include in your notes.”

Red sighed, leaning heavily on her desk. “We spent lifetimes, and I mean _lifetimes_ , barely doing anything in fear of messing up for the next in line. I was overly careful, and cautious to a fault. I did everything right, but I was unhappy. Actually, I was completely miserable. I didn’t want to do anything and I didn’t understand why that was. What I wanted was out of reach and I did everything I could to reach it.”

“You must have known that your actions would have consequences.”

“I didn’t care about them.” Her answer was quick as she took in a sharp breath. “I didn’t care what would happen so long as I got what I wanted. And I did. For a bit.”

Ayda leaned against the door, wondering how Nix ever managed to forgive her when she was like this.

She smiled, but there was something off about it. It wasn’t happy. “I traveled the world and got into fights and got stronger and did everything I wanted. I did it all and it ended faster than I would have liked. A few decades later and I had nothing I wanted to do. I was unhappy again and all that traveling meant almost nothing. It was a nice escape. When I realized this, I was in Leviathan. The floating pirate island that had no real fixed point. And then it hit me: I wanted roots in something more permanent. Compass Points isn’t that old because when I started building it, I was well into my sixties.

“Once it got going, I was happy. Maybe for the first time in my life, I was really and truly happy. And with old age, comes a lot of understanding. When I started the library, I started writing again, keeping notes for the next one of us.”

A heavy silence started to fill the space between them as Ayda absorbed the information. She went over her words, trying to find something she could relate to, something she understand.

She spoke slowly, as she gathered her thoughts. “You made a decision that would affect possibly hundreds of future iterations on a whim that ultimately didn’t make you happy… because you are rude and selfish.”

“Hey!” Red stood, and Ayda felt odd, watching her own face contort into a sneer from across the room. “I did what I had to in order for me to be happy. I’m sick and tired of you all barging in here and being mad at me for something any of us could have done. I made a mistake and that’s all there is to it.”

“Please do not yell at me.” Ayda pressed herself firmly against the wall. She wanted to leave, but there was more that she needed to say. “There are different degrees of mistakes, Red. And your mistake it… it hurt us. That’s what it means when we are angry with you. I grew up not understanding why our father didn’t love me. I didn’t know and I was always too afraid to ask him myself. I would have had that relationship if you hadn’t burned those notes.”

“It’s been so long,” Red sighed, rubbing her temples. “It’s been decades, why is this still such a problem. You figured it out, so the next incarnation will have that relationship.”

“And I’m very happy for her, and will continue to be happy for her, but this wasn’t decades for me. It was up until a year before my death. Only sixteen years for me.”

The flames of Red’s wings got brighter as they fluttered in irritation. “Yes but think about it from _my_ position. It’s been over a century of—”

“I don’t want to.” Ayda said, standing up straight. She usually never interrupted when people spoke because she hated when people did that to her, but right now she couldn’t stand the thought of hearing Red say another word. “I don’t want to think about it from your position because you wouldn’t do me the same courtesy. You’ve yelled at me and made me feel like my feelings weren’t worth consideration. That’s not how I learned this was supposed to work. Goodbye, Red.”

Ayda turned and left without saying another word.

\---

Nix stood next to Ayda at Fig’s concert, bouncing on her toes. “I’ve never gotten to get this close before,” she said, smiling. “It’s a good thing I don’t need to worry about my ears hurting in the morning.”

“Yes, it’s good.”

She stopped bouncing for a moment and turned to face Ayda as the lights started to dim. “I heard through the Ayda grapevine you were talking to Red.”

“The Ayda grapevine?”

“Another Ayda told me.”

“Oh. Right. Yes, I did talk to her.”

“How did it go?”

“I tried to understand her and I couldn’t. I don’t want to sound vain, but I don’t think I would ever be so selfish with our lives, so I don’t understand how she could be.”

Nix looked at the stage, shadowed figures moving around. Ayda quickly locked onto Fig, knowing her horns and bright feather earing anywhere. “That’s fair. Like I said, it took me a very long time to forgive her.” She elbowed Ayda gently and smiled again. “Well, let’s not talk about her right now. The show’s about to start.”

The lights of the stage blinked on and there was Fig, bass resting in her hands, mic pressed to her honey soft lips, and eyes so beautiful Ayda could spend a lifetime falling into her gentle pools of starlight.

Ayda couldn’t understand how Red could live so long and never find happiness. In Leviathan there was happiness in being raised by Garthy and happiness in building up Compass Points. And now, here in the Good Place, there was happiness in her friendships with the Bad Kids and in her paramour. There was happiness everywhere. Red just didn’t know where to look.


End file.
